Premier League reject Pompey's bid to sell

Saturday 20 February 2010 00:00 BST

Portsmouth flag

The Premier League have rejected Portsmouth's appeal to sell players outside of the usual transfer windows.

Pompey, who are reportedly £60million in debt and facing a winding-up petition from HM Revenue and Customs in the High Court early next month, had sought permission to deal in a bid to stay afloat financially.

However, the Premier League have confirmed they will not give the go-ahead to such a move.

A Premier League statement read: "The Premier League board can confirm they have been actively considering a request from Portsmouth to transfer players outside of the Transfer Window.

"We are grateful for positive assistance from FIFA and the FA but, having given the matter further consideration and taking into account all factors, the Premier League board have decided that this would not be an appropriate course of action at this time."

The likes of Algerian left-back Nadir Belhadj and promising centre-half Marc Wilson had been linked with moves away to balance the club's books.

Manager Avram Grant did not like the thought of his already threadbare squad being further depleted, but accepted it is a financial fact of life for Pompey.

He said: "I don't even want to talk about this because I came to this club to do something.

"But every week, or every day sometimes, there is a new thing and I don't know whether these things are sad or funny sometimes.

"We got a good result against Southampton and I thought nothing could happen now because there is no transfer window. You cannot say there is no creativity at this club."